A New Start
by greendayjewels86
Summary: Moving to somewhere new is always hard, moving to a big city from a small town. Well, that can be harder. Will Brooklynn make it in the big city and how will meeting a certain NYPD Detective change the outcome?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Brooklynn

Looking up and down the crowded street, Brooklynn Chapman sighed. People were rushing around going to god knows where. So different from the small town where she was from. What possessed her to move here she had no idea. She knew that she needed this. For herself, her family thought she was crazy moving to the big city by herself but it was what she wanted so they went along with it. It took her months to get the money together for the big move, and her she was, standing on a busy street in one of the biggest cities in the world.

~Well, I'm not in Kansas anymore, that's for sure.~ She thought as she balanced a box in her arms as she searched her jacket pockets for her keys. She finally found them and got them out without the box falling. As she fumbled for the right key she lost her grip on the box, it fell to the ground causing its contents to spill all over the sidewalk.

"Dammit! Just great!" She let out a frustrated growl before leaning down and picking up the contents the best she could. "Nice to know that people in this city are so helpful." She mumbled as people shuffled past her, even a few bumping into her almost knocking her over. Most didn't even bother a second glance at her.

"Do you make it a habit to talk to yourself in the middle of the street? That could be taken as a serious sign of mental problems." A voice said startling her out of her thoughts, as they bent down and began helping her pick up her things.

"Shit!" She said putting her hand up to her heart. "No, not usually, but I couldn't help but notice how incredibly helpful everyone is in this city. Besides you of course, and then there's the fact that it has been a very long day." She grabbed the last item and threw it into the box. Before she could pick it up the stranger had already picked it up and was standing waiting for her. She stood up and looked at him, he was cute. She smiled at him.

"Here." He handed her, her keys. She took them and unlocked the door before looking at him again. He handed her the box. "Thanks." she said smiling again.

"No problem, you just move here?" The stranger asked.

"Yeah, is it that obvious?" she said taking the box.

"A little. Anyway, hope your day gets better." She shook her head and began walking into the building when he stopped her with his voice as he walked away.

"By the way welcome to New York."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Mystery Man No More

Walking away from the girl I had to smile, she was beautiful long dark curly hair, bright green eyes. She was short but not too short. It was then that I realized that I should kick myself in the ass. For one I didn't get her name, two I didn't introduce myself, and three I didn't get her number. I always get their numbers. Of course now I would probably never see her again. I mean come on New York is a big city, I rarely ran into the same person twice unless I worked with them or I was looking for them.

I walked into the building that held both the precinct, that I worked for and the crime lab. I walked in past my desk and walked towards the elevators. I pushed the button and waited for the doors to open. I didn't have to wait long, once inside I pressed the button for the 35th floor. The elevator eventually came to a stop at the 30th floor to let someone on, I didn't pay attention to the person that was now keeping me company until they spoke.

"What no hello for your best friend? Man, that's rude." I looked over and smiled at my friend.

"Mornin', Danny. What's going on?"

"Not much. Just got a new case. Gotta catch up with Mac in the lab. Runnin' kinda late this morning." He replied giving me a smile.

"What did you and Monroe stay up late again?" I watched as his face turned red at the mention of our co-worker and his girlfriend.

"Yeah, well you know how it is." Came his reply seconds later.

"What about you? Why are you late?"

"I met a girl this morning on the street. Guess she was just movin' here and she dropped a box on the ground, stuff spilled everywhere. I had to help you know being with the NYPD and all, make sure I make the men in blue look good." Danny rolled his eyes at me.

"She was hot wasn't she? Otherwise you wouldn't have helped her." He cocked an eyebrow waiting for my answer. I was saved from answering by the doors finally opening and revealing the lab. I got off followed by Danny and we both went into the trace lab to meet Mac.

Mac turned to us as we entered the lab. "Nice of you boys to join us. I was just getting ready to go to the crime scene. Apparently there is a DB in Central Park, suspicious surrounds or something like that. Stella already has our new CSI there. So come on Danny, Don, lets go."

When we got to the scene there was a man's body sitting on a bench perfectly still with blood all down his front and a knife sticking out of his chest.

"I'll go see if there were any witnesses. See if anyone saw or heard anything or if anyone here knows this guy." I said and walked over to a small crowd of people standing off to the side. I didn't pay any attention to the new CSI. If I had I would have noticed that it was the girl that I ran into this morning. I also would have wondered how she got to the crime scene so fast.

I walked back over to Mac and finally noticed the girl standing next to him. I faltered in my steps for a second when I realized who it was, before catching myself. I looked at Mack and told him my findings.

"No one heard or saw anything. A young woman, Megan Trent, was going on her morning run when she stopped to take a break and stumbled onto our guy here. She said she checked to see if he was alive and upon finding she wasn't automatically called 911." I looked a Mac once more before risking a glance at the new girl. Mac noticed my glance.

"Detective Flack, this is Brooklynn Chapman our newest addition to the team." He smirked at me when he saw the look of surprise on my face.

"No need to look so surprised Detective. I know that I talk to myself and randomly drop things, but there's no need for surprise." She said with a smile. She stuck out her hand, I shook it. "I'm glad to finally know your name. I was curious after this morning."

I looked at Mac to see his brows raised and realized what it must sound like to him.

"I met Miss Chapman this morning when she dropped her things outside her apartment building, or what I assume was her apartment building and helped her clean up." I explained as fast as I could. Looking back at her I could see the amusement on her face. "You know what I'm going to see if maybe I can find out who this guy is."

As I walked off I heard Mac chuckle and say something to her. I heard her giggle and say ok.

**********************************************************************

I watched Detective Flack walk away shaking his head. It was a surprise to find out that the handsome man that helped me this morning was someone that I was probably going to end up working with on a daily basis. At least there would be something good to look at in spite of all the ugliness of this job. I had always wanted to be a crime scene investigator, even if it meant moving away from everything I knew. My friends and family had been unhappy with my decision to move but it was the only thing I could do to fulfill my dream. I just never knew that it would happen this quickly.

I shook my head and turned my attention back to the task at hand. The crime scene and the dead body. I started taking pictures and gathered as much evidence as I could with as little help from Detective Taylor as I could as well. He seemed like he was approving the way I handled everything. Of course it was hard to tell with this man, he always seemed to have a straight face, so serious. Before I knew it we were heading back to the lab to process the evidence.

Trace proved a dead end, as well as DNA. The only good thing that happened was that we found out the victims name: Justin Timberlake…..just kidding, seriously though it was Steven Whitfield. No criminal record to speak of not even a speeding ticket, he had a wife and three kids in the Bronks but other than that we knew nothing about him except he was dead.

I was sitting in the break room reading the newspaper and trying to eat something, considering I didn't get breakfast, when Detective Flack came waltzing into the room.

"Well, well, well…so we meet again. Not dropping anything this time I see." He said coming up to me.

"Well, Detective Flack…" I started before he interrupted me.

"Call me Don." He said.

"Okay, Well, Don at least I'm not tripping over myself." I smirked at him.

"Are you always this shy?"

"Always, can't ya tell." I said. "Anyway thanks for helping me this morning."

"It was no problem. Had to make NYPD look good." I raised an eyebrow at him as he smiled. He has got to have the most gorgeous smile ever. "By the way how'd you get to the crime scene so fast?"

"Stella." Was my short response.

"Stella?" He asked looking like he didn't believe me.

"Yeah, Stella. You know she works here too." I looked back down at the paper. "She came and picked me up, not two minutes after you left me all alone on my doorstep."

"You're name is Brooklynn?" He asked after a beat of awkward silence.

"Yep, names Brooklynn. Weird I know. Don't know what my parents were thinking, my mother was born in New York. I guess she missed it so she said 'hey lets name my first daughter Brooklynn that sounds good'. And yes I'm always this sarcastic too." I said smiling at him." Our conversation was brought to a close by a tall blonde guy with glasses walking into the break room.

"Flack, we still going to Sullivan's after work for that beer you owe me?"

"Yes, Messer we are." He answered before turning his attention back to me, this caused the other guy to look to me as well.

"You must be the new girl?" The guy called Messer asked me.

"Yeah, names Brooklynn though." I replied shaking his hand.

"Danny Messer. Glad to have someone here that knows what their doing. Some of the others have no clue." He smiled at me before speaking once more. "Anyway its nice to meet you but I'm off to Trace. Finally got some results." With that he disappeared.

"So you uhhhh….want to come to Sullivan's tonight with Danny and I. To celebrate getting hired here or just to get to know us?" Don asked me not looking at me directly.

"Are you asking me out Detective?" I flirted with him a little. I couldn't resist.

"What? I barely know you, of course I am. As friends." He smiled when he saw I was just teasing him.

"I'd love too. I could always use more friends considering I don't have any here yet. What time are we going?" I asked throwing the remains of my food away.

"Around six or so. I'll meet you here and we can go together so you don't get lost or something." He said looking into my eyes.

"Ahhh….looking out for me already….I feel so loved." I said putting my hand on my heart. "I'll be here." I patted him on the shoulder and walked out of the room. I had a feeling that tonight was going to be fun.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Don't own anything you recognize. I forgot the disclaimer in the first chapter. The only thing I own right now is Brooklynn.

Chapter 3: Sullivan's

My first day had been great and not so great. Great 'cause I had a new job that I loved, I had made some new friends. Not so great 'cause my first case wasn't going so well. We had barely begun and we were getting nowhere. It was already a dead end.

I laid on the couch in the break room waiting for Don to come and get me. Considering I had no idea where Sullivan's was it would be better that way. I had just closed my eyes when I heard voices from the doorway.

"You think she's asleep?" I think that voice was Danny's.

"I don't know man, she might be faking." I knew that was Don's. I could pick his out from anywhere already. I had to fight hard to keep from smiling or laughing. I couldn't give myself away. I heard some papers crumble and being thrown into the trash. Then I heard the unmistakable sound of water hitting a cup.

~They wouldn't!~ I thought preparing myself for an onslaught of water.

"Danny, she will kill you. Don't forget she is a forensic scientist. She could get away with it." Don seemed to be trying to talk him out of it. "Plus, I want to be on her good side. I like her."

"Oh, come on Donnie its just a little fun. She'll probably laugh." I heard Danny's excuse and continued waiting.

"Danny come on, if you gonna do it you have to tip the cup right." Don explained to Danny but I didn't hear him move from the doorway. I heard Danny creep up beside me and I could feel his presence getting closer and closer. Right before I thought he was going to spill the water I spoke.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I know how to hide bodies." I said quietly getting a small girly scream from Danny and a chuckle from Don. I opened my eyes to see that Danny had spilled the water on the front of his shirt, and was holding a hand up to his chest, eyes wide with surprise.

"How in the hell did you do that? I had no idea that you weren't sleepin'." Danny asked me throwing the cup away and grabbing towels in an attempt to dry his shirt off.

"Having four older brothers usually teaches you a thing or two." I replied getting a shocked look from both Danny and Don.

"Four older brothers? Man, I feel sorry for any guy that tries to date you." Danny said shaking his head. He looked over at Don slightly.

"Yeah, well I think I've threatened them enough with never seeing them again if they do. Being the youngest and the only girl I get away with loads of stuff." I smiled at Danny. "Do you need a new shirt?"

"Yeah, I've got one in my locker. I'll be right back. Don't leave without me." He said as he walked out the door. I looked over at Don. He had a questioning look on his face.

"What?"

"Really how did you do that? Scare Danny. Not a lot of people can do that. Not even me." Don looked impressed.

"Well, I didn't expect to scare him and make him scream like a girl but I heard you guys come in. I had just closed my eyes. It was so hard not to laugh or crack a smile." I smiled at him as Danny came back into the room.

"We ready?" He looked back and forth between us.

"I'm ready, you ready Don?" I stood up and shifted my head to the side giving him a glance.

"Yep, ready."

"Okay lets go." Danny led the way. Sullivan's I found was only a block away from the lab. We walked in and got one of the tables farthest to the back and sat down. Danny went straight to the bar and got the drinks.

"So what made you move to the big apple?" Don asked me.

"Well, Detective. I was born in Camdenton, Missouri. Small town nothing really goes on their. I grew up there and went to school graduated and went to a community college, I studied forensics and criminal justice, then I ended up getting into a relationship and moved to Topeka, Kansas with my boyfriend. I went to University there and graduated and found that I didn't have a lot of job offers, and I found out the my loving boyfriend was sleeping with another girl so I got the hell out of there and decided to take my chance here. I always wanted to move here. I used to beg my mom to move here when I was little but of course she always said no." I took a breath as Danny came back to the table. "So that my life story in a nut shell."

"Your boyfriend was an idiot." Don said looking over at Danny and taking one of the drinks.

"Yeah, I know. I had known him for a long time. I knew how he was and I think I kinda set myself up for it you know." I said grabbing a drink as well.

"I can understand that I guess." I smiled at Don and took a swig of my drink.

"So Danny, you're dating Lindsey Monroe. I would have never saw that if I hadn't just met you." I said smiling as Danny went red.

"We're trying to keep it a secret from Mac. I don't want to cause any problems in the lab." He said quietly.

"Oh, so not a lot of people know?" I asked looking between the two men.

"Nope. Just Don and now you." Danny looked at Don. "You didn't tell her did you?"

"No he didn't tell me. I guessed. I also have really good observation skills. I'll tell you this I'm sure that Mac already knows. I mean come on. One: he's your boss. Two: He's an observant guy, and three: you two are so obvious." This remark made Don snort into his drink to keep from laughing.

"We are not! Are we?" Danny asked.

"If I see anymore lovey looks coming from either one of you I think I'll puke." I said taking another drink and taking my empty bottle up to the bar.

******************************************************************

While Brooklynn was at the bar Danny looked at me. I was watching her talk to the bartender. The guys was flirting hardcore. I narrowed my eyes at them. I heard Danny chuckle before he spoke.

"Man you have it bad. I've never seen you watch a girl as much as you watch her. Is she the cute girl you met this morning before work?" He asked.

"Yeah, man shut-up." I saw Danny begin to chuckle. He looked at me again. "What?"

"Donnie has a crush!" He began making kissing noises. About that time Brooklynn came back to the table with another round of drinks.

"Ummm…Danny you have a girlfriend. Stop trying to make out with Don. People are staring." She said. Danny started to look around before he noticed that no one was paying attention to us. We sat there talking and drinking for a long time. It didn't take long for Danny to get completely plastered. I noticed that Brooklynn didn't drink all that much but she had to be at least tipsy.

"That is exactly why I don't drink a lot." She said pointing at Danny, who had just fell off of his bar stool. I laughed and helped Danny up.

"Would you help me get him back to his place?" I asked her hoping to at least spend a little more time with her, even though she was the most sober person out of our tiny group.

"Sure. We need a cab?"

"Nah, its just a block away from the lab in the opposite direction. We could walk." I answered grabbing Danny before he fell again.

"He is going to feel like shit in the morning." She said shaking her head.

"Yep, his fault though." We began walking towards Danny's apartment. If we were lucky maybe Monroe would be there and she could take care of him. Once we got to his building we got him inside and upstairs and we were in luck because Monroe was there.

"Lindsey?" Brooklynn knocked on Danny's door loudly. "Lindsey." A few minutes later the door opens showing a scruffy looking Lindsey.

"Oh, jeez…he's going to regret this in the morning. Thanks guys, see ya tomorrow." Lindsey took a hold of Danny and dragged him inside before shutting the door and locking it.

"Okay that was interesting. Well I guess I'll head home then." Brooklynn started to walk away.

"I'll make sure you get home alright." I said as I caught up with her. She looked up at me.

"Okay if your sure." I nodded and followed her back outside to the street where she hailed a cab.

Once inside the cab she gave him the street address and we waited. The ride was quite except for the occasional question from the cabbie. When we reached our destination I paid the cabbie before she could protest. We got out.

"You didn't have to do that." She said looking at me as we walked up to her building. She got her keys out and unlocked the front door.

"I know." Was all I said before following her in. She stopped and looked at me.

"What? I said I would make sure you got to your apartment okay. Not your apartment building." I said looking away. As I looked away I almost missed the small smile that formed on her lips. I followed her to the elevator, the elevator stopped on the second floor and we got off. We walked a short distance before she turned around.

"Well this is me. It looks like, my good sir, that I made it perfectly fine to my door. Thanks." She looked up at me once more smiling and I couldn't help but stare at her. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No, its just that you're so beautiful." I said. She looked away with a blush, I smiled at her. Reaching out I touched her face, turning her towards me I leaned down and gave her a small kiss on the lips. I pulled away. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, tomorrow." She said breathlessly. I smiled again and walked to the elevator where I stood and watched her open her door. She looked at me once more before walking inside and closing the door. It seemed to me that things were starting to look up and if it was up to me all the things looking up would include the woman that I had just left.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: I Don't Kiss and Tell

I woke the next morning and opened my eyes and saw that I was in my very bare bedroom. Alone. I hated being alone, but even after the kiss with Don I, I was glad that I was alone. It was too early for a relationship of any kind except friendship. Another thing I don't sleep around. I'm a one guy kinda girl. I looked over at the clock and started to panic.

~Shit! 10:00 I'm gonna be late. Mac's gonna be pissed.~ I thought until I sat up. ~Wait.~

I had forgotten that Mac gave the day off today to get everything settled into my apartment. I laid back into my pillows, planning on sleeping for at least another hour. I could feel a headache coming on from the night before. Of course as soon as my head hit the pillows there was a knock at my door.

~Wonder who that is?~ I thought pushing back the covers, I stood up and the headache I had felt coming on blew to full force. I hadn't even drank that much last night. I heard the person knock on the door once more.

"Just a minute!" I yelled. Stomping through the living room I stubbed my toe on my coffee table. "OW! FUCK!" I yelled before adding a few more expletives to my sentence. I half stomped and half limped to the door flinging it open to reveal Stella with her eyebrows raised.

"Stella?"

"Brooklynn."

"Why are you here?" I asked confused. "Not that I don't want you here but I thought that you had to work today."

"Well, I did but Lindsey knew that we lived in the same building and that you just moved here and she offered to cover my shift for me. I wanted to come and help you do whatever today." She said walking past me into my apartment. ~Come on in.~ I thought.

"Okay lets pretend that I believe what your telling me." I smiled at her as she tried looking innocent. I rolled my eyes. I turned and walked into the kitchen and grabbed some Tylenol and water. "Spill what's the real reason you're here."

"Okay, so helping you isn't my only reason for coming here." She sighed and sat down on the couch. "I got a little curious when I heard that you went out with Danny _and_ Flack last night." She lifted a dark eyebrow at me.

"Nothing happened. They were going out for drinks anyway and Don invited me to tag along, so I did. We had a few drinks, some of us more than others. Danny got completely plastered I had to help Don take him back to his apartment. Lindsey didn't look to happy, or I assumed it was Lindsey. I got a little tipsy, I don't like to drink too much. Don, well I couldn't really tell about Don, but I think he was more that a little tipsy. That's it." I said leaving out the tid-bit about Don walking me back to my apartment and kissing me in the hallway.

"I heard Don kissed you." Stella stated. If I had been looking at her I would have known that my friend was baiting me.

"Who told you?" I said quickly looking at her again.

"Ha! So you did kiss." Stella pointed at me with a huge grin on her face.

"Uggg…you tricked me. Fine, yes he kissed me. After dropping Danny off he walked me back here. I thought he would only walk me to the front of the building, but no he walked all the way up to my door. I was gonna say good-bye when I caught him staring at me. Next thing I know he's telling me I'm beautiful and kissing me." I took a breath and looked at Stella.

"You like it right."

"Of course I liked it. It's not everyday that I have a very handsome, _sexy_ Detective from the NYPD kiss me out of nowhere. The only problem is, is that I just met him yesterday briefly and then almost got drunk with him. I mean, I don' know him at all. I don't know what that kiss meant. Is it supposed mean that he likes me or was it just a drunken good night kiss. I just don't know and I hate being confused." I said all this in a rush and finally I took another deep breath. I hated when I got myself all worked up over the simplest things.

"Well, when I was at the lab this morning, I overheard him and Danny talking. He likes you but he's unsure of why exactly he kissed you last night. He's attracted to you definitely but like you said you don't know each other. I think he's just about as confused as you are." Stella fell silent for a minute as she looked at me. "I can tell you one thing though Don doesn't sleep around. He used to but he's grown up since then and he is more of a one woman kind of guy now. I don't know if that helps you any. But he likes you. At least that's what I gathered from everything that I _overheard._" She then stood up and walked over to a box sitting on the floor and opened it. "Okay where do you want me to start?"

**********Meanwhile….at the lab***********************************

"I still can't get over the fact that you kissed her. I thought old Don Flack quit going around and kissing random women." Danny looked at me. I was beginning to think it was a mistake to tell my best friend anything.

"Would you drop it already. It just happened. Right now all I can do is blame the alcohol that I drank for my actions." I said still trying to understand why I just up and kissed her like that. I probably freaked her out. I mean I know I'm attracted to her and I think she's attracted to me but I still shouldn't have done that.

~I'm an idiot.~ I thought as I rubbed my face with my hands.

"Yeah, whatever Donnie, you can't fool me. You liked kissing her, you're too attracted to her not to have liked it." Danny smiled as I glared at him. I stood up and walked over and got me another cup of coffee when Mac walked in.

"Don't you two girls have work to do instead of standing in here and gossiping all day." Mac said scowling before walking away.

"What's his problem today?" Danny looked at me and shrugged.

"Oh well, see you later Messer."

"Later Flack." With that we both left the break room and went in opposite directions. I had a bunch of paperwork laying on my desk.

********Brooklynn's apartment***********************************

"Wow, this is definitely an improvement. This actually looks like a living room, not just a room with couches. I would say lets start on the kitchen but I'm getting hungry. I'm going to go get dressed and then we will go out to eat lunch somewhere. Sound good?" I looked at Stella.

"Sure."

"Then afterward I want to stop by the lab…" I cut off at Stella's look. "What? I want to check in with Mac about the case we've been working on. No other reason." I walked away into my bedroom.

"Uh huh." Was Stella's only reply, I could hear the laughter in her voice telling me she didn't believe me. I got dressed and put my long dark curly hair into a ponytail. Slipping on my sandals, I grabbed my purse and I was ready to go.

"Ready Stell?" I asked walking into my living room to find Stella unpacking some to the kitchen boxes.

"You didn't have to start on those. They can wait." I said.

"I know, but I didn't know how long you would be so I decided to be productive." She smiled at me. "I'm ready."

We walked out of my apartment and down to the street. "Where do you want to eat." I looked at Stella.

"Well there is a small café across the street from the lab. They have good food and even better coffee." I nodded and we started to walk the two blocks to the café. The city was always busy it never seemed to sleep but today it seemed even busier. I know that before we reached the café that at least two creepy guys had tried to grab my ass. Not cool. Finally we reached the café and we sat down and quickly ordered our food and drinks.

"Okay, I'm curious and you have to tell me. Why did you move from Missouri and Kansas to New York besides the obvious reason of the ex-boyfriend." Stella asked looking at me with her green eyes.

"Well the main reason is to find my parents." I let that sentence sink in.

"Wait! What? I thought you said your parents were living back in Missouri." Stella stated looking at me shocked.

"Well, for all intents and purposes they are my parents…my adoptive parents." I saw that Stella had yet to lose her shocked expression. " They ah…adopted me when I was 17 years old. I never understood why and I still don't. I mean it was only one year and I would have been out of the system forever. I didn't want to go at first but they won me over. All my brothers are adopted as well, I guess my father adopted two boys after he got a divorce with his first wife and my mother had adopted two boys while she was with her first husband. After they divorced her husband wanted nothing to do with the boys. So when my mother met my father they had four kids already. The youngest boy is 10 years older than me. I never understood why they waited to adopt another child." I paused and took a drink of water. "My mother told me once that they had seriously decided not to adopt anymore children but they wanted to go and look. She said that even though I was already grown up she felt that pull at her heart and she just had to adopt me. It meant a lot to me. Even after that I still didn't understand. Anyway, I decided when I turned 21 that I wanted to find my real parents and surprisingly enough my parents supported me on the decision. My boyfriend didn't. I found out about him and then I think that him cheating really made the decision a concrete idea in my head."

"Wow." Stella breathed.

"Yeah so I told everyone that I was going to come up here for two weeks to see if I could find anything. I was here for about a week when I was at the library and I saw that the crime lab had an opening for an investigator. I couldn't pass up the opportunity, so the next day I made an appointment with Mac for an interview. I mean since I graduated college at 18 I hadn't had any experience working out in the field, but I wasn't going to let this go. I mean it has always been my dream to be a crime scene investigator. I figured I could make that dream come true and maybe find my parents in the process."

"So most of this all happened by chance?" Stella asked.

"Call it fate or maybe even destiny." I said with a smile. "I always wanted to move here. When I was little and staying in the orphanage I would always ask Mona, the lady that ran it, if we could all move here. She always said no. It's funny because even though it was an orphanage all the kids that lived there were happy. She let us call her mom. If I ever see her again that is probably what I would call her, she was always the nicest person. Out of all the place that I stayed and lived, she was the nicest and the one I loved the best. Until I was adopted anyway."

Before Stella could ask another question our food arrived. We ate in silence until Stella couldn't take it anymore.

"You know we have a lot more in common than I thought."

"What?" I asked after I had taken another drink of water.

"I don't know my real parents or family either." She looked down at her plate. It was then that I saw her tough exterior soften.

"Are you ashamed of being an orphan Stella?" I asked. She looked up at me and slowly shook her head.

"Stell, its nothing to be ashamed of. I'm not ashamed. The ones that should be ashamed are the parents that left us. They're to blame. Not us. We have nothing to be ashamed of. If I was still with my parents, where ever they are, my life would be totally different and I wouldn't know the things I know. I wouldn't have this job, that even though I've only worked one day, that I love. I have great new friends. I have you as a friend. I never would have met you, or Don, or Danny, or even Mac. I'm sure that I'll be friends with the others as well but, the point is I may be 23. I may be young but I have no reason to feel ashamed for the things that make me,…me. I don't regret the life that I have and neither should you." I pushed back my chair and threw my napkin in my plate. "I need to use the bathroom."

I hadn't meant to get so upset or even angry at Stella. I just never met anyone except my adoptive family that understood everything that goes on in those places. Someone that understood somewhat of what I went through. Even though sometimes I had a hard time I would always stick by what I had told Stella, I don't regret the life I have. I hadn't realized that by now I was crying a little bit.

~Don't be stupid…don't cry…its not like she'll be mad a you.~ I looked at myself in the mirror and saw my eyes were a little puffy. ~Great now everyone will be able to tell.~ I wiped my tears away once more before leaving the bathroom. I walked back to the table and as soon as I reached it I spoke.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get upset but I won't take it back." I half way apologized.

"Hey, don't apologize to me. There's no need for that." Stella said putting up her hand to stop me from apologizing anymore. "Let's go to the lab."

We paid for our food and laid down a few bills for the waitress and left. Walking across the street a few people yelled at me and I was in no mood so I flipped them off. As we walked into the lobby I ran straight into someone. I started to fall backwards from the impact before I felt arms around my waist catching me.

"Couldn't wait to see me." I heard Don's voice before I looked up into his face.

"Shit! Sorry Don. I wasn't watching where I was going." I started to blush.

"It's okay I don't mind catching you." He started flirting with me.

"You're such a flirt Detective." I said smiling at him. He smiled back for a few moments just looking into my eyes when his smile faded a little.

"Have you been crying?" He asked quietly. At that moment I heard someone clear their throat. I looked over at Stell and realized that I was still in Don's arms in the middle of the lobby where I worked. I slowly worked my way out of his arms.

"Uhhhh….sorry again, but I've gotta go talk to Mac." I said getting out of his arms as quickly as possible. I practically ran to the elevator to escape. So busy was I in running away that I missed the look of hurt pass over Don's handsome face.

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I watched as Brooklynn practically ran away from me. I've never had anyone, except suspects, run away from me like that. It hurt and it must have shown on my face 'cause next thing I knew Stella was standing next to me.

"Give her time, Don. She'll come around." Stella looked at me. "She told me some things about her today and I made a comment and it upset her. I really don't think its you. Like I said just give her time." Stella then turned to catch the next elevator.

I thought about what Stella had said and those statement from her confused me. Everything about Brooklynn confused me. One minute we're flirting, the next she's running away from me like I'm the plague. I've only known her a day and she has already begun to turn my world upside down.

Shaking my head I continued to make my way out of the precinct to find my way to the next crime scene. Yep, that woman has already turned my world upside down, from the moment I laid eyes on her I knew I was doomed.


End file.
